C4

Eloise Hollowmere POV

"The part belongs to Meredith Thornvale!" Moon Trial Elder Ronan Stormclaw shouts, standing up from his big chair. "Her singing is so great today. I did not want to invite her because the Silverhowl Bard Guild pushed me too hard, but she proved me wrong."

"Wait a minute!" a loud voice screams from the back. "Meredith Thornvale singing like a beautiful nightingale? That is a huge lie!"

"Isolde Ravencrest!" Caedmon Frostfang yells, stepping in front of me fast. "Keep your mouth shut! Meredith is very sick with a pack virus. Do not make up bad stories!"

"She is a big fake!" Isolde points her finger right at my wolf mask. "I know that is not Meredith under there. She hired a human double to steal the song. Take off that mask right now!"

"If she takes it off, everyone in this performance arena will catch her terrible fever!" Caedmon barks back. "We are not selfish wolves. We must keep the mask on!"

"Do you think we are stupid pups with no brains?" Isolde laughs. "That is the worst excuse I ever heard!"

"You..." Caedmon turns to me, his eyes wide and scared. He gives me a fast look that means Do not touch that mask!

"Elder Ronan, what do we do?" the assistant scribe asks. "The Moon Herald Keepers are pushing inside with their magic recording stones. It is getting too loud!"

"Miss Meredith, why are you hiding your face?" a news bard yells, running onto the stage.

"Is it true you are too scared to show your real skin?" another wolf shouts, crowding around me.

"Are you really Meredith Thornvale?"

I look at Caedmon. He is trapped outside the crowd of jumping wolves. He is shaking. I want Meredith to lose everything. I want her name ruined in every pack territory. I take a deep breath and pull the wolf mask off my face.

"Elder Ronan, I am so sorry," I say, bowing my head down. "I am not Meredith."

"What?" Elder Ronan drops his book. "You are Eloise Hollowmere!"

"The human queen of songs from two years ago!" a bard screams. "The one who stopped singing to work in the back rooms!"

"Why are you wearing Meredith's mask?"

"Are you trying to steal her pack fame today?"

"Did the Silverhowl Bard Guild force you to do this because you are just a fat human with no power?"

"You have no pack backing you anymore!" a mean wolf leader yells from the front row. "No one cares about a human with no Alpha to protect her! Your beautiful voice means nothing without a strong wolf!"

Elder Ronan looks very sad and mad. He thinks I tricked him on purpose. The bards push closer and closer. They block the doors. I have nowhere to run.

"Who do you think you are, human girl?" the big pack sponsor shouts, stepping on the stage. "You think you can play tricks in our sacred arena? You are nothing!"

"How pitiful," a very deep voice booms through the room.

The heavy doors bang against the wall. Lucan Ashcroft walks inside with giant steps. He looks so cold and scary that every single wolf stops talking right away. The bards run to the sides, opening a wide path for him because he is the Alpha Lord of the Moonsong Dominion. He walks straight toward me, and his golden eyes lock onto mine.

"Why is Alpha Lord Lucan here?" a news bard screams. "What is the Moonsong Dominion doing at a small Silverhowl trial?"

"Look at him," another wolf whispers. "He must be so mad at this fat human girl. Eloise is finished in this territory. She just dug her own grave."

"Your singing voice has a lot of power," Lucan says, stopping right beside me. He nods his big head. "It is very good."

"You saw me?" I ask, my eyes getting very wide.

"I saw everything," Lucan says.

"What do you think, Trial Elder Ronan?" Lucan asks, turning his cold golden eyes to the stage.

"Miss Eloise sings like a true queen," Elder Ronan says, looking very worried and sweating. "We all saw it. But she just played a trick with the mask..."

"I do not see a problem with that," Lucan says.

"No way!" the big pack sponsor yells, shaking his fists. "Meredith Thornvale must get this song! We already put all our pack resources into her! We cannot change the plan for a human!"

"Does she have to get it?" Lucan asks. His scary Alpha air fills the whole room and pushes the sponsor back. "Meredith has no soul in her voice. She is not good enough. Eloise is the only one who can sing this part."

"Are you backing this human, Alpha Lord?" the sponsor asks, his voice shaking now.

"Yes," Lucan says.

"This is crazy!" the sponsor mutters. He is too scared to fight Lucan, so he runs out the door to find Rowan Blackthorn.

"We will stop the trial for today," Elder Ronan sighs, looking at Lucan with sad eyes.

"Let us go, Corwin," Lucan says, looking at me one more time before he walks out.

"Eloise, you are a very bad girl!" Caedmon Frostfang yells, running up to the stage after the bards chase Lucan away. "You are toxic! Just you wait, Rowan will make you pay for this!"

"Tell him I am waiting," I say. I throw the wolf mask right into the trash bin. "I am not scared of him anymore."

I walk out the back door fast before the bards come back. Lucan's big black truck is idling in the dark lot. The dark glass slides down, and his handsome face looks out at me.

"Get in," Lucan says.

"Thank you," I say, climbing up into the seat.

"You are my wife now," Lucan says, cutting me off before I can say more. "Do you think I will let other wolves bully my woman?"

"If I bring bad trouble to the Moonsong Dominion..." I start to say, rubbing my hands together because I feel so nervous.

"If I was scared of trouble, I would not have gone to the Bond Hall with you," Lucan says.

"Where are we going now?" I ask, trying to stop my heart from jumping so fast.

"To my home," Lucan says, looking at my dazed face with a small smile. "I do not like to wait. I will make this marriage something you can never forget."

"I am willing," I say.